Parental leave or family leave is an employee benefit available in almost all countries that provides paid time off work to care for a child or make arrangements for the child's welfare. The terms "parental leave" and "family leave" include maternity, paternity, and adoption leave. Often, the minimum benefits are stipulated by law.In certain countries parental leave provides only unpaid time off work. Paid parental leave has been available as a legal right and/or governmental program for many years, in one form or another, in most countries – with the exceptions of the United States of America, Papua New Guinea, Suriname, and Liberia. The United States is the only high income country not to provide such leave.